But his stump speech took a bizarre turn when he recalled an English fight fan who once spat in his mouth.

Riddle kicked off the night’s pay-per-view main card at Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome. After securing a standing arm-triangle choke, Riddle forced the fight to the mat and got the third-round tap-out, which netted him a $65,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus.

But perhaps his most entertaining moments came in the post-fight press conference. While initially declaring Hardy an opponent who could “put me on the map” if victorious, Riddle quickly recalled a run-in with one of his countrymen.

UFC president Dana White jokingly said he heard “Riddle hates English people” when the fighter mentioned Hardy. Little did the UFC boss know the can of worms he opened.

“I will be completely honest,” Riddle said. “When I fought in Manchester, England, (for UFC 105), they were very cruel to me. One fan actually spit directly in my face, and he was lucky enough where it hit my mouth.”

White’s reaction? “Wow. I was actually kidding,” he said.

But Riddle continued.

“To be completely honest, I don’t have anything against English people,” he said. “But … I’ll go over to London, and I’ll put ‘em down.

“It was my first international fight, and it was one I’ll never forget. It was my first loss in the UFC (to English fighter Nick Osipczak), and ever since I’ve had that loss, I’ve never let anything like that happen to me again. All my other losses are usually ‘Fight of the Night’ or a decision loss, and that was the only time I was finished in my career.”

Riddle then uncorked his final jab, and he put England in his crosshairs.

“To be disrespected like that … for some butter-toothed Brit to spit in my mouth, that was some bull,” he said. “And honestly it’s never been the same.”

Sure, Hardy is already booked to fight Amir Sadollah in September at UFC on FUEL TV 5 in Nottingham, England, but White said Riddle will get wish, apparently at some point.